Animal Planet's 'It's Me or the Dog' Star Victoria Stilwell Is Named an American Humane Association National Ambassador

Renowned Trainer, Positive-Reinforcement Guru Lends Her Voice to Support Historic Organization's Mission, Lead National Search for America's Top Dogs

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Victoria Stilwell, one of the world's most recognized and respected dog trainers, has been named a National Ambassador for American Humane Association, the nation's voice for the protection of children and animals. Stilwell will lend her global prominence as an advocate for humane training methods to support American Humane Association's work to end abuse and neglect of society's most vulnerable. She also is leading the expert judging panel for American Humane Association's Hero Dog Awards™ contest — under way at www.herodogawards.org — which recognizes and celebrates the powerful relationship between dogs and people.

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Stilwell is best known as the star of Animal Planet's hit TV series It's Me or the Dog, through which she shares her insight and passion for positive reinforcement training methods that enhance a dog's ability to learn while increasing confidence — resulting in a healthy, well-adjusted pet. Her two best-selling books, It's Me or the Dog: How to Have the Perfect Pet and Fat Dog Slim: How to Have a Healthy, Happy Pet, have been widely praised, and they detail her core reward-based training philosophy: "There's a better way to train... Positively."

"American Humane Association is both thrilled and honored to have Victoria Stilwell serve as a National Ambassador," said American Humane Association President and Chief Executive Officer Robin R. Ganzert, Ph.D. "Victoria and our organization share the important goals of celebrating and strengthening the inextricable link between people and animals. We have valued her past support and guidance in our efforts to promote animal welfare and responsible pet ownership, and now we can look forward to making even greater strides as Victoria partners with us in our national outreach efforts."

"I'm excited about working with American Humane Association to spread a message of compassion, as we help educate people about the wonderful benefits of the human-animal bond," Stilwell said. "I welcome this opportunity to reach out to people who, with a little help and the proper training, can greatly improve their relationship with their pets. And that means more loving, forever homes for more animals — and happier people sharing their lives with them."

Stilwell is a vocal opponent of punitive, dominance-based training techniques, which often result in "quick fixes" but ultimately cause more long-term harm than good while damaging the owner-dog relationship. Learn more about her positive, reward-based training approach on her website: http://positively.com/.

About American Humane Association

Since 1877, the historic American Humane Association has been at the forefront of virtually every major advance in protecting children, pets and farm animals from cruelty, abuse and neglect. Today we're also leading the way in understanding human-animal interaction and its role in society. As the nation's voice for the protection of children and animals, American Humane Association reaches millions of people every day through groundbreaking research, education, training and services that span a wide network of organizations, agencies and businesses. You can help make a difference, too. Visit American Humane Association at www.americanhumane.org today.

SOURCE American Humane Association